Extensible platform for railway-cars.



E. H. SIGKELS. BXTENSIBLB PLATFORM .FOR RAILWAY GARS. i la APPLICATION FILED MAR. 23, 1914. l 1,095,741 Patented May 5, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0..w^sHlNoroN, D. c'.

E. H. SICKELS.

EXTENSIBLE PLATFORM FOR; RAILWAY GARS.

nLuumA PLANDGRAPH co..v/ASMINGTON n. c.

E. H. SIGKELS.

BXTENSIBLE PLATFORM FOR RAILWAY GARS.

APPLIUATION FILED 111111.23, 1914. Patented May 5 1914. a SHEETS-SHEET s.

.i i E I. i 3

STATES -PATEN EXTENSIBLE PLATFORM FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ELLwooD H. SIoKnLs, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Extensible Platforms for Railway- Cars; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to extensible platforms for railway cars, and has for its main object to provide an extensible part associated with the platform of the car, and means to automatically establish a connection between the vestibule door of the car and the extensible part of the platform when the car stops on a curve, whereby the opening of the door will actuate the extensible part of the platform to thereby bridge the gap which occurs between the car and station platforms when the car stops at a station having a curved platform. As such a connection between the door and the extensible part of the platform is only -established at stations where it is desirable to actuate the extensible part, at all other times, the door may be opened without affecting the extensible part.

lVith these objects in view, the invention consists in providing connections between the extensible part and the door, which are normally inoperative, and,l therefore, the door may ordinarily be operated without affecting the extensible part. However, the connections are operated upon preferably by means associated with the right of way when the car-reaches a curved station platform, so that they are rendered operative to act-uate the' extensible part when the door is opened. The extensible part may be returned to normal position by any suitable means, such as spring mechanism or the like.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a. plan view representing a portion of a car platform diagrammatically, and certain parts being broken to show the operating mechanism for the extensible member. Fig.A 2 is a side elevation of the construction shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken approximately on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 44, of Fig. 2.

Speccaton of Letters Patent.

Application led March 23, 1914.

Patented May 5, 1914.

Serial No. 826,588.

The extensible partassociated with the plat-form mentioned above is, in the present instance, associated with the platform trap in a manner disclosed in my prior Patent No. 1,083,762, of January 6, 1914, but it will be obvious that so far as the present invention is concerned, theV extensible part may be any extensible element adapted to bridge a gap formed between the car and station platforms.

Referring to the drawings, the extensible part is designated by the reference character 1 and is hingedly mounted upon the hinge rod 2, by means of the extensions 3, provided on the extensible part 1, and through which the hinge rod 2 passes. The hinge rod 2 may be mounted in any suitable way, such as in brackets 2a secured to the edge 2* of the car floor, and in bearing 2c. By mounting the extensible part 1 in this manner, the same may be shifted along the hinge rod 2 to its extended position, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, and .may also be swung around the hinge rod 2, as an axis. A trapv plate 4 is also hingedly carried by the rod 2, preferably by providing a downturned hinged portion 5 at the outer edge of the trap, and a similar downturned hinged portion 6 at the inner edge of the trap. The trap 4 and. its extensible part 1 i are, therefore, adapted to be moved as a unit about the hinge rod 2 as an axis, and thereby permit usage of the usual series of steps 7,

.when it is desired to discharge passengers to a platform disposed at a lower level than the platform of the car. W'henv the t-rap 4 and its extensible part 1 are in their closed position, however, the .extensiblepart may be actuated without affecting the plate 4.

The construct-ion so far described is similar to that disclosed in my priorpatent abovementioned. The extensible part 1, in the `present instance, however, is provided with a detent 8, which is preferably located on the under side of the innermost hinge member-3. Said detent presents at its under front side, an inclined or cam surface, as represented at 9, and the purpose of the same will hereinafter appear.

Disposed substantially parallel with the hinge rod 2, and mounted in depending brackets 10, preferably secured to the under sidevof the car, is a rock shaft 11, which, as shown in the drawings, presents a square cross section. Slidably mounted upon the rock shaft 11, is a slide block 1Q, having a hook-like member 13, which is adapted to engage behind the detent 8, but is normally held from doing so by a spring 14 interposed between the car body and the extremity 15 of the rock shaft 11, which, as illustrated, is bent at right angles to the main body portion of the shaft. As best shown in Fig. 2, the spring 11 tends to raise the extremity 15 of the shaft 11, and thereby lower the hook-like member 13. A link 16 connects the slide block 12 wit-h the extremity of an angle member 17, one arm of which is secured to the under side of the swinging vestibule door As best shown in Fig. 1, the angle member 17 is so fastened to the door that when the latter is in its closed position, the arm of the member 17, to which the link 1.6 is connected, will be directed inwardly and will be disposed substantially parallel to the hinge rod 2. Then the door is opened, the free arm of the member 17 will swing to the dotted line position, as indicated at 17 and through the intermediary of the link 16, will move the slide block 12 to the dotted line position 12, in which position, the link 16 will. assume the dotted line position 16', (Fig. 1).

Due to the provision of the spring 14, which operates as described above, the door may be normally opened without affecting the position of the extensible part 1, since the hook-like member 13 is held from engagement with the detent 8 and may be moved along the squared rock shaft 11 without carrying with it said detent.

When the car stops at a curved station platform, or at other times when it is desirable to actuate the extensible paigt 1, means is provided for shifting the position of the hook-like member 13, so that it will engage the detent 8, and the movement of the slide block 12 will, therefore, cause an extension of the part 1. This means preferably takes the form of a link 18 pivoted at its upper end to the bent extremit-y 15 of the squared shaft 11. The lower extremity of the link 18 is acted upon by either one of two bellcrank levers 19, the arms 19 of which have a slotted engagement with the extremity of the link, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. The bell-crank levers 19 are preferably pivoted to a suitable bracket 20 attached to any convenient part of a car, such as to the side of the steps 7. A second bracket 21 also attached to the steps 7 has pivoted thereto, a contact shoe 22, which is adapted to swing in a horizontal plane about the pivot 23, as best shown in Figs. 2 and 4l. Said shoe 22 is pivoted intermediate its ends, and its inner extremity engages in its extreme positions with either of the bell-crank levers 19, under which conditions, the engaged bellcrank lever will be swung around its pivot, thereby lowering its arm 19 and moving the link 18 downwardly. The outer extremity of the shoe 22 is adapted to engage with any suitable actuating element associated with the right of way, such as a third rail 2-1, provided for the purpose. The rail 24; is provided at all stations where it is desirable to actuate the extensible part 1. As the car approaches the station, the shoe 22 will engage with the rail 24, and will be swung around its pivot 23 in a direction depending upon the direction in which the car is moving, and its inner extremity will engage with either of the bell-crank levers 19 depending upon the direction in which the shoe is swung about its pivot. The actuation of the bell-crank lever 19 will result in a downward movement of the link 18, as heretofore stated, a downward movement of the extremity 15 of the squared shaft 11, and a consequent upward movement of the hooklike member 13. An operative connection is, therefore, established between the door and the extensible part of the trap, since the door, when opened, will actuate the link 16, slide the block 12 along the squared shaft 11, and as the hook-like member 13 is now held in its operative position, the movement of the block 12 and hook 13 longitudinally of the squared shaft, will carry with it the extensible part 1, due to the engagement of the hook-like member 13 with the detent 8. In order to return the extensible part 1 to its normal position, a spring 25 is provided, preferably inclosed by the cylinder 26, in which a piston 27 is slidably mounted. The spring re-acts at one end against the head of the piston 27, and at its other end against the end of the cylinder 26. The pitman 28, to which the piston head 27 is secured and with which the spring 25 is coaxially disposed, is provided with an upturned extremity 29, which engages a suitable bracket 3() bent in the form of a loop and secured to the inner edge of the extensible part 1, as shown in Fig. 1. The upturned extremity of the pitman 28, preferably passes into the loop formed by the bracket, and the expansion of the spring 25, therefore, serves to return the extensible part 1 to its normal position. The length of the actuating rail 24 will depend on the length of the curved station platform, but when the end thereof is reached by the shoe 22, said shoe will be released and the spring 14 will disengage the hook-like member 13 from the detent 8, thereby permitting the spring 25 to return part 1, as just described. If the door should happen to be in its open position, when a station platform is reached, at which one of the actuating rails 24 is provided, it is only necessary to irstclose the door, and then open the same, as the opening movement thereof will result in an actuation of the extensible part 1. Under suclnconditions, as the door is closed, the slide block 12 will be moved inwardly on the squared shaft 11, but, in this instance, as the shoe 22 is already in engagement with the actuating rail Q4, the hook-like member 13 will be in its raised position. In its rearward movement, it will, therefore, contact with the detent 8, but the inclined or cam surface 9 thereon defiects the hook-like member 13 downwardly, and permits the same to pass behind the detent. For this purpose, the link 18 is provided with a spring 31 interposed between the head 32 and the extremity of a yoke-like member 33, constituting one part of the link 18. As the hook-like member 13 passes under the detent 8, the spring 31 is compressed as the yoke 33 moves upwardly with respect to the lower part of the link 18. As soon as the hook-like member 13 passes the detent, however, the former is moved to its raised position again by the spring 31, which re-acts against the head 32 and the extremity of the yoke 33 to produce this result. The spring 31 is of such strength as not to interfere with the normal action of spring 14.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that at every station where the actuating rail 24 is provided, the connections between the extensible part 1 and the door will be rendered operative, due to the shifting of the hooklike member 13 into engagement with the detent 8. At all other times, however, the door may be operated entirely independently of the extensible part 1, since the slide block 12 and hook-like member 13, in their movement longitudinally of the rod 11, will not be operative to act upon the extensible part 1.

As in my prior patent hereinbefore referred to, the extensible part 1 constitutes an extensible portion of the trap, the trap being comprised by the upper plate 4f, and also the extensible part 1, since they are both unitarily movable about the hinge rod 2 as an axis. As heretofore stated, however, it is apparent that the extensible part need not be associated directly with the trap, since any extensible element may be actuated in the manner described.

Numerous modifications and changes may be made in the details of construction without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention, as defined in the claims.

What I claim is 1. The combination with an extensible part associated with the platform of a railway car and with the vestibule door, of normally inoperative connections between the door and said extensible part, means to render said connections operative, and means associated with the right of way to actuate said last-named means.

2. In a railway car provided with a vestibule door, the combination of a platform trap, an extensible part associated therewith, normally inoperative connections between the door and said extensible part, means to render said connections operative, and means associated with the right of way to actuate said last-named means.

3. rlhe combination with an extensible sliding part associated with the platform of a railway car and with the vestibule door, of normally inoperative connections between the door and said extensible part, means to render said connections operative, and means associated with the right of way to actuate said last-named means.

4. In a railway car provided with a vestibule door, the combination of a platform trap, an extensible sliding part associated therewith, normally inoperative connections between the door and said extensible part,

,means to render said connections operative,

and means associated with the right of way to actuate said last-named means.

5. The combination with an extensible part associated with the platform of a railway car and with the vestibule door, of normally inoperative connections between said extensible part and said vestibule door, and means to automatically render said connections operative.

6. The combination with an extensible sliding part associated with the platform of a railway car and with the vestibule door, of normally inoperative connections between said extensible part and said vestibule door, and means to automatically render said connections operative.

7. In a railway car provided with a hinged vestibule door, the combination of an extensible part associated with the platform of the car, a slidably mounted element actuated by the swinging movements of the door, means on said extensible part with which said element is adapted to engage during its movement, means to normally hold said element in an operative position so that it will not engage with said lastnamed means, means to shift said element to operative position, and means associated with the right of way to actuate said lastnamed means.

8. The combination with an extensible part associated with the platform of a railway car and with the vestibule door, of

.normally inoperative connections between said extensible part and said vestibule door, and means to render said connections operative.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

ELLWOOD H. SICKELS.

Witnesses H. A. BRIGHTON, W. B. MORRELL.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of latents, Washington, D. 0. 

